Director, Government Affairs, ANZ

About Airwallex
Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software, we empower over 200,000 businesses worldwide - including Brex, Rippling, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more - with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts, payments, spend management and treasury, to embedded finance at a global scale.
Proudly founded in Melbourne, we have a team of over 2,000 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$8 billion and backed by world-leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Visa, Mastercard, Robinhood Ventures, Sequoia, Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, and Lone Pine Capital, Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future. If you're ready to do the most ambitious work of your career, join us.
Attributes We Value
We hire successful builders with founder-like energy who want real impact, accelerated learning, and true ownership. You bring strong role-related expertise and sharp thinking, and you're motivated by our mission and operating principles. You move fast with good judgment, dig deep with curiosity, and make decisions from first principles, balancing speed and rigor.
You're humble and collaborative; turn zero-to-one ideas into real products, and you "get stuff done" end-to-end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here, you'll tackle complex, high-visibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking. If that sounds like you, let's build what's next.
About the team
The Global Communications and Public Affairs team at Airwallex is dedicated to managing the company's reputation and fostering strong relationships with key stakeholders. We handle public relations, government affairs, and corporate communications to ensure transparent and effective engagement. By advocating for Airwallex's interests and navigating complex regulatory environments, we support the company's strategic goals and growth.
Responsibilities
Strategy & Planning

• Develop and own a government affairs and public policy strategy for ANZ, aligned with Airwallex's global priorities.
• Partner cross-functionally with legal, product, and data teams in addition to regional leadership to educate agenda setters in policy and government circles on Airwallex product suite and the role Airwallex plays in the economy.
• Identify and prioritise policy, legislative and regulatory issues that impact Airwallex in areas such as payments, financial services licensing, digital assets, data, privacy, competition and innovation.
• Provide regular insight and recommendations to ANZ and global leadership on political, regulatory and policy developments.

External Engagement & Advocacy

• Build and maintain trusted relationships with key government stakeholders, regulators, central banks, competition and consumer authorities, and industry associations across ANZ.
• Lead Airwallex's advocacy and engagement on priority issues, ensuring our perspectives are clearly understood and credibly represented.
• Collaborate with communications team and local leaders to develop the core policy narrative and brand for Australia.
• Represent Airwallex at hearings, consultations, roundtables and industry forums, sometimes acting as spokesperson on government/policy matters.

Regulatory & Policy Insight

• Monitor, interpret and summarise policy and regulatory changes affecting our products and operations (e.g. payments, issuing, cross-border FX, digital wallets, data and privacy).
• Translate complex developments into clear, actionable guidance for Legal & Compliance, Risk, Product, Operations and Commercial teams.

Cross-functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Country/GM leadership, Legal & Compliance, Risk, Product, Operations, Communications and Public Affairs to ensure a coordinated external engagement strategy.
• Collaborate with Communications/Corporate Affairs to align narratives, campaigns and media on policy and regulatory topics.

Who You Are
We're looking for people who meet the minimum requirements for this role. The preferred qualifications are great to have, but are not mandatory.
Minimum qualifications:

• 12+ years of experience as a government affairs or public policy leader with deep familiarity with the ANZ policy and regulatory landscape, ideally in financial services, payments, fintech or adjacent regulated sectors.
• Able to combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution, moving seamlessly from high-level policy strategy to detailed engagement and drafting.
• A strong relationship builder and influencer, comfortable engaging senior officials, regulators and internal executives.
• An excellent communicator (written and verbal), with the ability to simplify complex issues and craft persuasive arguments.
• Highly proactive, organised and resilient, with a bias to action and ownership in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

• Demonstrated track record of delivering policy or regulatory outcomes through constructive engagement.
• Proven experience preparing submissions, policy papers, consultation responses, briefings and speeches on complex issues.
• Existing network across relevant ANZ government, regulatory and industry stakeholders is highly advantageous.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience working in a global or regional organisation
• Experience in high-growth tech or fintech environments.

Applicant Safety Policy: Fraud and Third-Party Recruiters
To protect you from recruitment scams, please be aware that Airwallex will not ask for bank details, sensitive ID numbers (i.e. passport), or any form of payment during the application or interview process. All official communication will come from an @airwallex.com email address. Please apply only through careers.airwallex.com or our official LinkedIn page.
Airwallex does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. Airwallex will not pay any fees to search firms/recruiters if a candidate is submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless an agreement has been entered into with respect to specific open position(s). Search firms/recruiters submitting resumes to Airwallex on an unsolicited basis shall be deemed to accept this condition, regardless of any other provision to the contrary.
Equal opportunity
Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Airwallex is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent. We don't regard color, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status when making our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.